Newsgroup Name: The actual name of the newsgroup, eg, 'comp.sys.amiga.misc'.
Description: A field for your own use, eg, 'c.s.a.misc' or 'Amiga misc'. If this entry is blank, the newsgroup list shows the Newsgroup Name; if the description is not blank, then it will be shown instead.
Default .sig: The .sig (as defined in Program Settings) that you wish to be placed in messages that you post to this newsgroup. You can always change it when actually writing a message, this is just the default choice.
Message Limit Cycle Gadget: 'Unlimited Messages per Download' means that NewsCoaster will download all the messages that have been posted since the last time you downloaded news. When you download for the first time, you will be asked if you wish to download all available messages, or just the last 100 messages (the latter is recommended, as at any time there could be anything from tens to hundreds or thousands of messages is each newsgroup). 'Maximum # of Messages to Download' means that NewsCoaster will not download more messages than the number you enter in the box below this cycle gadget; if there are more messages, only the most recent ones will be downloaded. If the number you enter is greater than 100, then upon downloading for the first time, NewsCoaster will prompt you whether you wish to download this maximum number, or just the most recent 100.
Lines KillFile: This is a special type of killfile based on the number of lines in the message. 'Download messages of any length' turns off the killfile for this newsgroup. 'Skip messages longer than this # of lines' means that messages will not be downloaded if they have more lines than the number given in the string gadget below this gadget. This is useful for avoiding huge messages.
Discard Messages Cycle Gadget: By default this is set to 'Don't Discard Messages', which means that messages will never be automatically discarded - they will only be deleted if you delete them. If you select 'Discard after x Days', you can then select the number of days you wish to keep messages for in the string gadget below. So if you entered '30', then messages would automatically be deleted 30 days after the date given in the 'Date' header. Note that deletion here is permanant (ie, messages are *not* copied to the 'Deleted' folder first, they are deleted straight away). Also note that if you enter a value of '0', then auto-deletion won't happen (as a safety-feature - better than all messages immediately being discared!)
Online/Offline Reading: Originally, NewsCoaster was just an offline reader, that is, you downloaded all the messages online, and then could read them later offline. This is generally cheaper since you spend less time online, and can read them at your leisure. Of course, not everyone has to pay for their online time, and so reading online can be preferable. If you select 'Online Reading' for a newsgroup, then when you download messages for that group, only the headers will be downloaded - which will be much quicker than downloading the entire messages. When you open a message to read, NewsCoaster will then download the message body automatically - thus you need to be online all the time you are reading messages. This method means that your hard drive is filled up less quickly, since only messages which you choose to read are downloaded.
Subscribe: If you are subscribed to a group, then messages will be downloaded for that group when you select 'Fetch News'. This is set as default. You may wish to turn it off if you don't wish to download news, but you don't want to delete the newsgroup (this way you still keep and can read the messages already downloaded, without having to download more continually).
Okay: Create the newsgroup folder.
Cancel: Close this window without creating it.